Modern Age Online

They spent the rest of the night hunting for the damn Nexus orb. Even the cops got involved, as well as the mage divisions from two separate precincts. But it all came to nothing. The orb was gone. It left only an imprint of mana in its wake. Jar-lock and the other mages theorized that whatever entity that ejected Kaleb was also responsible for the orb’s disappearance.

He was questioned multiple times by various mages and technicians about everything that was said and that he’d seen. But none of them could identify the mysterious voice. Kaleb had been engaged with the mysterious up until two a.m. That’s when he started snapping at people. He was cold; he was wet, and his equipment needed to be repaired and cleaned. Most of the others agreed with him, except for Jar-lock. So, with promises to file full reports with three different police districts, Kaleb and his guild mates left.

Now Kaleb sat in the passenger seat of his car while Roy drove. The young Nova had arrived on the street with Kaleb’s car and a stolen carafe of coffee. Kaleb wanted to kiss the kid. But then he got in the vehicle with Abby, Daivor, and Farrah again. Which meant that he and Abby were questioned almost immediately. Daivor zoned out of the conversation when he realized Kaleb hadn’t acquired any demonic weapons or metals. But Farrah and Roy wanted to hear every last detail. First from Abby, then Kaleb’s point of view.

Kaleb was interested in learning what had transpired when the others had gone through the portal home. But it was a pretty standard boss fight affair. They beat the enormous sludgy mass down to size and then went in for the capture. But that was when Kaleb and Typhanysor popped out and upset everything. From there, Kaleb told his own tale about being left behind, the faux-angel, and dealing with Typhanysor.

“… then you know the rest. Big booming voice, scary black void, and my eventual expulsion.” Kaleb finished as he sipped at his cooling coffee.

Abby nodded slowly as Farrah studied his face. The rabbit-woman was clearing looking for signs of something. But Kaleb couldn’t guess what. Abby tiredly rubbed her eyes as she asked.

“Do you think there ever was an angel named George in that demonic realm?”

Kaleb shrugged. “No idea. But I doubt it. Typhanysor was pretty weak. It was my understanding that the Sludge Lord threw him in the dungeon for his many fuck-ups with the Demon Gang.”

“Hmph. At least we don’t have to deal with those assholes anymore. Most of them were sacrificed during the demon-summoning.”

“Yes. But nature abhors a vacuum. I’d wager a bet that our little slice of Austin will get more intense in the coming days. New gangs trying to move in and make a name for themselves.” Said Farrah, pulling her eyes away from Kaleb.

“So long as the cops or HLO don’t handicap us, we’ll be fine.” Kaleb sighed.

Farrah almost snorted in derision. “With the good-will we garnered from this little raid, they won’t be able to give us much trouble.”

“Huh?” Both Kaleb and Abby responded.

Farrah looked at the two before sighing. “Y’all just stopped a demonic incursion. A big one. Led by a damn Demon Lord. With the cops from Garfield and Wyldwood as witnesses, all of you will be celebrated as heroes… until the next big event happens.”

Kaleb drained the last of his coffee and then reached down by his feet for the carafe. Abby snorted as he drained the last of the coffee into his cup.

“I can’t believe you stole that.” She said.

Roy in the driver's seat shrugged. “I wanted to be useful and you know how the Doc gets without his coffee.”

“How about you, kid? Anything interesting happen in the command tent?”

Both Farrah and Roy shook their heads. “No. Not really. We learned the reporting and verification procedures the police department use. But those are similar to what Farrah taught us. The exciting stuff only happened when Abby and the others were flung out of the portal. When y’all disappeared, the police mages moved in to investigate the scene. But the judge with the ambient mana in the air, if you were to come back it would be there.”

“Yeah,” Abby said idly as she sat forward in her seat. Almost hitting the metal grate that separated the front and back. “But what’s really important is how did you make out experience-wise? I gained so many Evo Points for both demons. It’s ridiculous. I can’t even imagine what you’ve gotten.”

Kaleb’s eyes glanced over at the glowing exclamation point in the corner of his vision. Its yellow hue made it stand out against the darkness. He was almost afraid to click it. Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face, cause Abby burst out laughing.

“You haven’t checked yet? Come on, dude! That’s one of the most fun parts of playing games.”

“I got the notification sound a lot. So I’m just squeamish about getting all those blue screens in my face at once, okay? It was mildly distracting. Besides, I’m exhausted right now. I really don’t want to go through all that.”

“All what? Reading? Come on!”

Kaleb rubbed a hand down his face as Abby smiled and cajoled him. It probably wasn’t that bad, especially with his Toughness Skill already maxed out. Which meant that all those hits he had taken generated no skill experience. Sighing, he clicked the golden exclamation point and prepared himself as a sea of blue hit his vision.

Dodge Skill Level Maxed

Movement speed while dodging increased 5%

Endurance Skill Level Up

Current Stamina increase: 12%

Hand-To-Hand Combat Skill Level Up

Hand-to-Hand damage increased by +10

Sneak Skill Level Up

Noise reduction while crouched increased by 5%

In-fighter Skill Level Up

Melee strength increased by 2

Stamina increased by 3%

Congratulations

Your study and careful practice with your own mana pool has unlocked the Mana Manipulation Skill. With it, you will be able to better sense and control your own magic… finally.

Mana Manipulation Skill Beginner Level 2

You managed to shape and control mana. Bending it to your will in both conventional and unconventional ways. You can now sense the arcane weave around yourself and other. With practice, you may be even to manipulate the mana of others.

Mana Capacity increased by 200

Mana Regen increased by 2%

Kaleb sucked in a breath as his eyes scanned everything. But then he was immediately hit with another blue window.

Notice

Your Dodge Skill and your Toughness Skill are both at max level. Both are combinable. Do you wish to combine them now and make an even more powerful skill? The player can also level the skills up to the intermediate tier. Leaving a skill at max level means that it will waste all future skill experience. We advised you to either combine or level your skills as soon as you can.

Without thinking about it, Kaleb went ahead and combined the two skills. Each time he had, his health or stamina pools had taken severe hits. But overall, it was always a net gain. The windows went away and Kaleb waited as the system combined the two skills and then spat out a result. Once again, he got a blue window.

Congratulations

You have created the Duck and Weave Skill. Not only can you now dance your way around trouble. But you can also turn aside a blow with simply by controlling your body at the right time. Toughness and Dodge Skills have been reset to level 1.

Duck and Weave Skill Beginner Lvl 1

You can dip and weave with the best of them. Able to duck under any blow, slide away from any danger, and dance your way out of combat. But don't let the name fool ya. You can also take a punch and turn it aside like a champ.

Dodge Distance increased by 3%

Chance to block or turn aside an attack increased by 1%

Kaleb watched his HP drop as his Toughness dropped to level one. It was a hell of a hit. But with the help of the guild and their new training room, Kaleb figured he could get his levels back quickly. Raising the skill level of combined skills was harder. But well worth it. He’d need to test out what the dodge distance actually was in-game and also see how ‘turning aside an attack’ worked. Would he take a portion of the damage or negate the hit entirely? Maybe it was another way to mitigate damage like the Damage Decrease from Conditioning.

He returned his focus to the car and found the others all sitting in silence. Roy was still on the way toward their hangar. But Abby had sat back and seemed to be in her own menus. She soon came out of it and gave him another smile.

“Did you get something awesome?”

Kaleb shrugged. “I’ll have to see. I combined another skill, which means my health took a hit. But I think it was worth it. I’ll have to test it on the streets at the next opportunity.”

“Well, like your rabbit-girl said, we’ll have plenty of gangs to test new stuff on. Hopefully soon too.”

Kaleb glanced at Farrah, seeing the supposed NPC’s eye twitch. She was trying to pretend like she didn’t understand their conversation. Like a normal NPC, but Kaleb could see that Abby’s dig had bothered her. So he steered the conversation back to Abby.

“So, what about you? Did you spend all your points yet, or do you have more?”

“I’ve been evolving my Attack Tree. That demon was almost fully resistant to my shadow blades. I was hoping the new Cells from that would give me something new to play with. But other than increasing how many shadows I can control, it wasn’t that helpful. I was thinking of dumping some points into the Utility Tree and seeing if that does anything.”

Kaleb nodded. “Hey, if push comes to shove, I can always give you a gun, right?”

Abby nodded slowly. “Yeah, about that. Do you think you could make sidearms for the team? I know we are always asking, but…”

“Abby, that’s literally my job in the Guild. I’m the head mechanic, right? Besides, I got people to help with that. I’ll probably buy a few guns and modify them somehow. This whole incident has hammered home the need for some back-up weapons. I can’t do much with magic, but I can maybe get us some alternatives. That way, D34d-I won’t have to rely on standard ammunition when fighting a damn demon.”

The dark-haired woman nodded as she sat back in her seat. “Yeah, energy weapons seem to be the way to go. I just know you have a lot on your plate.”

“Not really. Marie and Terrance have been a tremendous help. Same with Daivor and Roy. Combine that with the Hunter kids and the Brute clan, and I’ve got a team big enough to handle things. Really, the biggest pain in the ass is space. I want to expand the workshop again and maybe get a few more workbenches. Not to mention schedule regular pick ups at the dump Roy pointed us too.”

“Sounds like you got it in hand, then. Just remember to play the game.”

Kaleb stretched his back and snorted. “Please, I just took down two demons in one night. I think my gaming life is fine. I’ve got plenty of time to build what I want and explore this world of super-heroes and villains.”

Abby coughed, which then exploded into a laugh. Curious, Kaleb turned around and stared at the short woman. She was covering her mouth as a smile sparked across her eyes. Kaleb raised his equivalent of an eyebrow.

“Did I miss something?”

“What about your college course, teach?”

Kaleb felt his eyes go wide and his mouth went dry. He didn’t know if the community college was capable of finding him or forcing him to teach. But he had committed himself to teaching weekly lessons on chemistry to a bunch of NPC students. He bit his lip and hissed in annoyance as Abby’s laughter echoed in the car. He needed to raise his Chemistry Skill, fast.